UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Freshman Ryan Kirwan (DeWitt, N.Y.) collected a goal and an assist to help lead Penn State past Long Island University, 3-1, in the 2021-22 season opener on Sunday afternoon inside Pegula Ice Arena.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Penn State (1-0-0) opened the scoring on the powerplay as right off the opening faceoff a pair of freshmen connected for the first goal of the season as Danny Dzhaniyev (Brooklyn, N.Y.) slid a tape-to-tape pass through the slot connecting with Kirwan who slotted it home at 15:39 of the first period for the 1-0 edge.
- The Nittany Lions extended the lead later in the frame as Kirwan wrapped the puck around the net and sophomore Chase McLane (Trenton, Mich.) cleaned up the loose puck in the crease for the 2-0 margin at 18:57.
- After a scoreless middle period, LIU (0-1-0) cut the deficit in half late in the third period as Nolan Welsh stole the puck at the point and skated in on a near breakaway slipping the puck past Penn State senior goaltender Oskar Autio (Espoo, Finland) for the 2-1 score at 13:43 of the final frame.
- With just one minute remaining in the contest, Autio sprung junior Connor McMenamin (Collegeville, Pa.) up the far boards and in on a breakaway that sealed the victory as the junior slipped the puck past the blocker of LIU netminder Kris Carlson for the 3-1 final.
GOALTENDING
- Autio stopped a bevy of shots at crucial times in the third period finishing with 23 saves while improving to 1-0-0 on the year.
- Carlson falls to 0-1-0 to begin the season after making 31 saves.
GADOWSKY POSTGAME
Opening Statement:
A: It was fantastic to have the Roar Zone back, absolutely fantastic. They were a lot less rusty than us. And really, I remember coach [Keith] Fisher and I talking on the bench like, man, it's good to be back. That just felt a whole lot better.
Q: What did you make of the way you guys closed the game out there?
A: You got to give Oskar [Autio] a lot of credit. Not necessarily at the end but I'm talking about at the nine-minute mark where we had to kill a penalty, he was fantastic. So, I thought that showed a lot of mental toughness on his part. And you know what, nice to see a veteran like [Connor] McMenamin close it out when we needed it. Certainly, you can't be disappointed. I think the entire team will expect a lot more for what we are: like our game, our identity, so we're not thrilled with that but good to get the first one out of the way. I think you look at our freshmen, I thought they all played very, very well. We were very happy to see it, obviously goal and assist to start with Ryan [Kirwan] was great. Danny [Dzhaniyev] made a great play. Ben Schoen in the faceoff circle as well as just general play. I thought Carson Dyck won some draws, made some nice plays. And then Simon Mack, for those who like defenseman that could skate I mean, jeez, he's a pleasure to watch. So, from the young guy's standpoint I thought it was really good to see.
Q: When we spoke to you earlier this week, you didn't seem sure which new guys were going to produce. Were you surprised by anything today?
A: No, anybody that's watched Danny [Dzhaniyev] and Ryan [Kirwan], there's no surprise, but still it's one game. There's still time to see who's going to be able to do it at a consistent level and to do it in a Big Ten level getting later on in the season, that's going to be a different thing as well. But very nice to see them able to start like that.
Q: What do you say about Ryan [Kirwan] being able to jump in right there and pick up the first goal this season and right after that, set up the second one.
A: Now I think it's a great start for him. I do like also the way he changed for the team in the third period, like he is absolutely a producer, so he has to do that to play well but I thought he did some other things also. But for a freshman to come in with a goal and assist the first game, [and] the first goal of the year. That's a tremendous start for him, nice to see.
Q: What do you guys look to do differently tomorrow night?
A: We would like to establish more of the offensive identity that we're used to seeing, and that takes a lot of work. So that's number one from the coaching staff, that's what we'd like to see. In a nutshell, we've got to be a lot more aggressive offensively. I do think whoever it was who mentioned that we did control the puck a lot is true, but I don't think we got a lot of chances out of it and we need to be a lot more aggressive to play our type of game. NOTES
- Penn State improves to 6-3-1 all-time in season-opening contests and remain perfect at Pegula Ice Arena moving to 5-0-1.
- Sunday's game marked the first between Penn State and LIU.
- Penn State held the 34-24 edge in shots on goal while going 1-for-3 with the man-advantage and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.
- Penn State controlled the faceoff dot winning 42-of-67 (62.7 percent) draws led by junior Connor MacEachern (Brooklin, Ontario) who went 12-for-18 (66.7 percent).
- With one goal and one assist, Kirwan collected his first career multi-point game while Dzhaniyev added a pair of assists for his first career multi-point effort.
- Freshman Simon Mack (Brockville, Ontario) registered his first collegiate point with the secondary assist on Kirwan's goal.
- With the lone assist on McMenamin's goal, Autio collects his first career point becoming the fifth different Nittany Lion netminder to register at least one point in his career.
NEXT UP
Both teams return to Pegula Ice Arena tomorrow evening to close out the series with a 7 p.m. puck drop.
For more information on the 2021-22 season presented by the Penn State Bookstore: the Official Bookstore of Penn State Athletics, visit the men's hockey page at GoPSUsports.com or call 1-800-NITTANY Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.